Statue of Christopher Columbus (Johnston, Rhode Island)

Rhode Island

This bronze Columbus is a copy of a statue once cast from thirty thousand ounces of sterling silver, which was later melted down.

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The original was solid silver. Rhode Island's Gorham Manufacturing Company wanted something spectacular for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a piece that would prove what its foundry could do. So it hired the sculptor Auguste Bartholdi to model a Columbus. The model crossed the Atlantic, and in Providence workers poured thirty thousand ounces of sterling silver. Guests were invited to watch and were feted while the casting happened. Gorham officials rode the rails to Chicago with the finished statue. Silver was never meant to stand outdoors forever, and once the fair had done its work as advertising, the statue came back to Providence and went into the furnace. What survives is the bronze copy Gorham cast in 1893 and gave to the city. Columbus steps off his base in mid-stride, a globe in his left hand, his right index finger pointing as if sighting land. A sword hangs from a belt at his hip. There is a coil of rope at his feet.

This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
The completed model was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to be cast from 30,000 ounces of silver at Providence, Rhode Island.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Nearby, on the same roads

  • Providence College 3.9 mi A fifteen-year-old Judy Garland sold her own autographs on a Providence sidewalk to help pay for a college dormitory.
  • Scituate Reservoir 6.5 mi Rhode Island's largest lake was made by drowning five villages and knocking down nearly twelve hundred buildings.
  • Seekonk Speedway 11 mi The same family has run this quarter-mile oval since 1946, and once flooded it for boat races.
  • Foster, Rhode Island 11.5 mi Foster's town hall was built in 1796 and the town still meets in it, making it the oldest government meeting house of its kind in the country.
  • Mount Hope Bay raids 17.6 mi A British ship named after the general who ordered the raid ran aground, then got shot to pieces by the townspeople it came to attack.
  • Old Furnace State Park 18.8 mi Horseshoes for George Washington's army came out of a furnace here, built from iron ore dug out of swamps.